I'll Be Your Friend
by otalku17
Summary: When the shy girl from a noble clan is placed next to the village's most notorious orphan, no one would be able to consider that they could be friends. But fate has a way of revealing that anything is possible. AU story. I guess it's wrong to try and hide that there will be a NaruHina romance in the future, huh? Well, now you know. Rated T because I like playing it safe.


**Alright, this is a project that I'm most hesitant and exited about. Out of all the subcategories of Fan Fiction, _Naruto's_ little slice is one of the biggest, second only to _Harry Potter's_ section. Naturally, this causes an author who wants to try his/her hand at a story in the _Naruto_ universe to become slightly...intimidated, to say the least. I mean, the goal is to produce a story that everyone wants to read, and when you're going into the category with over 370,000 choices you worry about the chances. However, I'm a big fan of _Naruto, _and really wanted to try my hand at writing for it. So, here we are.**

**And just as an FYI...I do believe that NaruHina could work. It isn't due to some extreme hatred of Sakura or anything like that, just my honest opinion. So, if it's not too much to ask, let's not let things get out of hand in the event of reviews being posted. Let's all just enjoy the story.**

**Also, Masashi Kishimoto owns _Naruto_ and all _Naruto _based properties.**

* * *

No one was there to notice that a young girl was running down the Konoha streets with all her might. If anyone did see, they would've saw how the blue haired girl's tears streamed out of her pale white eyes, down her face, and into the dirt road, leaving a faint trail behind her. While she aimlessly ran through the village, she began to silently question herself.

_Why can't I be stronger? Why can't Father look at me without seeming upset? Does he really hate that I'm not as skilled as Hanabi?_ Her voice remained timid even in her own mind. She couldn't help the fact that it was just who she was. The little girl had always lacked confidence in herself, causing her to act extremely shy around anyone she interacted with. The elders of her clan, along with her own father, saw this as a precursor to weakness and cowardice, all traits that a member of the Main House must not hold.

"As the head of the Hyuga House, and in the best intentions for the clan, I will give you a worthy successor to my seat," her father solemnly said to the Hyuga council. Unbeknownst to them, his daughter had been eavesdropping on their meeting, knowing that it had been called in order to talk about her. What she didn't know was what her father intended with his declaration. She would discover his plans the next day when he called her and her younger sister into the Hyuga dojo. The head of the clan instructed his daughters to stand at opposite ends of the sparing area while he stood stoically in the center.

"The Huyga have a proud history fighting as shinobi of the Hidden Leaf," he began. "We have lent our Byakugan to our allies and shed blood for our homeland. Through this, we have since established our status one of the village's most elite clans. As such, all Hyuga's are to become ninja and maintain the clan's position."

"Hinata..." he said, turning his head to face his oldest daughter. She attempted to maintain eye contact with her father, but quickly returned her gaze to her feet, unable to handle his stern stare.

"...and Hanabi..." the father continued, turning towards his youngest daughter. She looked up at her father and nodded, determination clear in her eyes.

"You are members of the Main House," he told them as he shut his eyes. "Daughters of the head of the Hyuga clan. As such, you are expected to be the examples of everything that makes our clan strong. Show me that you are worthy to carry the name Hyuga!" As he finished his speech, he opened his eyes and activated his Byakugan. His stern glare was now intensified by the veins that were bulging around his eyes and the fact that his pupils were now distinctly outlined. His daughters, knowing what their father was expecting, faced each other and assumed the Gentle Fist stance. While Hinata remained hesitant, Hanabi seemed eager to show her skills.

"Begin!" their father exclaimed.

Hanabi wasted no time, immediately charging forward to her opponent. She shot her palm out, aiming directly at Hinata's chest, who was barely able to deflect the strike. As the oldest sister began to bring her fingers to Hanabi's ribs for a counter attack, her target had already began to spin around and positioned herself behind Hinata. Fearing the multiple strikes to the spine, Hinata wildly swung her arm, using the momentum to spin her so she could face her sparring partner. Her eyes widened as she saw her younger sister arched her back, effectively avoiding the chop. Before the eldest Hyuga daughter could plan her next attack, she was met with a leg sweep that swiftly put her back onto her wooden floor. She gasped in pain as the wind got knocked out of her lungs, while her sister reassumed her stance and waited for her opponent to rise to her feet.

Hinata looked up towards her father, tears beginning to well up in her eyes from the pain her back. Her pleading stare, while it was noticed by the clan leader's Byakugan, was not met with any sort of acknowledgement.

"Continue," was all he said. His oldest daughter, doing her best to prevent her tears from falling, slowly rose to her feet and reassumed her stance, albeit noticeably weaker than before. Hanabi refused to move, forcing her sister to start the next round. Every attack that Hinata attempted, however, was easily deflected by her younger sister. As the oldest sister went for a double palm thrust, she could only watch as her target jumped over her attack effortlessly. As soon as she saw Hanabi disappear, Hinata felt the heel of her younger sister as it struck the back of her head, sending her falling back to the floor in a heap. As the oldest sister began to clutch the back of her head and her younger sister turned to make sure that there would be no counter attack, their father had seen enough.

"Stand down, Hanabi," he instructed. The youngest Hyuga nodded and put her hands back to her sides. Her sister, on the other hand, was still laying on the floor.

"To your feet, Hinata," the head of the clan commanded. Hinata, slowly obeyed, rising to her feet and reluctantly keeping her hands away from the back of her head. The Hyuga sisters watched as their father's eyes returned to normal and his gaze focused on Hinata, confirming her suspicion that he was disappointed.

"You have failed once again, Hinata," he said. "You cannot even defeat your younger sister! You've shown no improvement in your training whatsoever. In fact, it appears that you are getting worse." Hinata couldn't help but hang her head, desperate to avoid her father's gaze.

"Normally, you, being the firstborn, would be the one to take my place as the head of the clan when the time came," he continued. "However, I've come to the conclusion that to continue training you in any function, let alone as my possible successor, would be a waste of my time." Hinata's attention snapped up towards her father, shocked that he had gone so far as to say that she was wasting his time.

"W-what do you mean?" Hinata asked.

"I mean that from now on I shall be training Hanabi to be my successor," he said. "And as I said, I refuse to waste any more time on a weak heir." The words struck Hinata harder than her sister's strikes ever could. She opened her mouth to attempt to protest, but found that her voice had given up on her. Unable to hold back her tears any longer, she turned and ran out of the dojo, leaving her sister and father behind to watch as she fled.

* * *

"Ahh...nothing like a good bowl of ramen after training," a short boy with spiky blonde hair sighed as he jumped off of the barstool in the Ichiraku Ramen shop. He began fishing in his pockets for the money that his sensei had gave him after they had finished training. He slapped the money onto the counter and gave a large grin to the owner and his daughter, who smiled back at their most loyal customer.

"Come back again soon!" the old man smiled.

"I will!" the boy cheerfully shouted as he walked out into the street. "Believe it!" As he turned his focus back onto the street, he just missed running into a young girl with short blue hair running past him, silently crying as she did.

"Hey..." the boy said to himself. "Isn't that girl in the Academy? I've never seen her out in the village without a body guard with her..." He watched her as she blindly ran forward, not seeing that a group of older boys was walking directly into her path. Before the blonde boy could call out to her, she bumped into the other boys. While they were slightly taken aback, she was knocked back into the dirt. The girl slowly rose to her feet and looked up to the boys, who scowled at her.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" the tallest kid shouted, his friends flanking him on his sides.

"Yeah, who do you think you are?" the kid wearing the backwards ball cap asked. The blonde boy watched as the girl began to cower as the boys surrounded her. She eventually overcame her paralysis and rushed in the direction of the Ninja Academy.

"Hey! Get back here!" the overweight boy shouted at the girl. The blonde boy watched as the trio of boys chased after the girl, his curious stare now transformed into a look of determination. He clenched his fists and took off in a run.

* * *

Hinata stopped to catch her breath in the woods near the academy. She didn't know if the boys had been able to follow her, but she was too tired to go any further. Her worst suspicions were confirmed as she heard the sound of feet trampling leaves and twigs approaching her. She looked up and saw the three boys, each smirking as they slowed their run into a stalking stroll towards the former Hyuga heiress. The girl gave up on trying to run any further, and instead stood with her eyes facing her feet.

"Well, well, well," the tall boy said. "You got some nerve kid. What makes you think that bump into us and get away with it?"

"I didn't mean to..." Hinata meekly replied.

"Hang on," the ball cap boy said, looking at her eyes. "I recognize her. She's that Hyuga girl."

"I know her cousin, Neji," the overweight boy said. "He's a real jerk. Always acting like he's better than everyone else."

"Guess you're just like him," the tall kid said. "You act like you're never wrong and do whatever you want."

"Y-you're wrong," Hinata stammered. "I'm not like that at all."

"You aren't?" the boy in the ball cap asked. "I guess that means you are going to apologize to us now, right?" The three boys stared down at the Hyuga girl, who kept her head down.

"I'm sorry," she quietly said.

"That ain't good enough," the tall boy said. Hinata looked up at him with questioning eyes.

"B-but I..." she began to say, but was cut off when a hand grabbed the back of her head and pushed her down onto her hands and knees. The pain from her sparring injury spiked and radiated throughout her head, causing her to whimper.

"You heard him!" the overweight boy barked. "You're going to have to beg for our forgiveness." His friends began to jeer and mock the Hyuga girl as they kept her head down. With the combination of the pain from the back of her head and the embarrassment of being held down in a begging position caused her emotions to run high and all the tears to resume falling to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Hinata cried. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" As the boys began to laugh at Hinata's still weak appology, they didn't notice a blonde haired boy was walking up behind them.

"Let her go!" he commanded. This caused the boys to broke their focus on Hinata and turned to face the boy. Hinata looked up to see who the voice belonged to, her eyes widening in shock as to who it was.

* * *

Class dismissed in the Ninja Academy, allowing all of the students to rush out and meet with their parents. Hinata watched as her classmates walked with their parents and happily described the events of their day. While she normally had an escort, the one was meant to pick her up that day was running late. As the last of the students left, Hinata noticed that one student was still there with her, sitting on the swing by himself.

While they never spoke, she recognized the boy from the numerous times he had gotten in trouble with the village. She recalled how he had been caught by one of the patrolling ninja after he had vandalized the Hokage Manor with paint again. She remembered how he cockily smirked, even as he was being chastised in front of many villagers who had stepped out of their shops to watch him.

"Like I care!" he spat, much to the dismay of the crowd. Hinata stared wide eyed at the boy as he began to laugh and run away, prompting the ninja to chase after the mischevious boy once again. As she watched him escape into the distance, she could've sworn that she heard some of the adults whisper about how that boy acted like a real monster.

While she didn't understand why the adults said that about the boy, the way he looked as he slowly rocked back and forth only further confused her. He hung his head so his hair blocked his eyes, only showing his sad frown to anyone who bothered to look his way. At that moment, the Hyuga girl failed to see a monster, but saw someone who was completely alone. While under normal circumstances Hinata wouldn't walk up to anyone and try to start a conversation, something inside her gave enough courage to start walking towards him. She stopped two feet from the boy, who didn't notice that someone was staring at him. The young girl wanted to say something, but felt her shyness begin to take over her senses again, cutting off her ability to speak.

"Uhh...ummm..." Hinata whispered, just loud enough for the boy to hear. He looked up, surprised that someone was addressing him in that way. He watched as the white-eyed girl looked back at him briefly, only to immediately look down at her feet.

"Who are you?" he asked. The boy waited patiently as the girl slowly looked back up. She opened her mouth, ready to introduce herself, but was cut off by a hand grabbing her arm pulling her away from the boy. She looked up to see the stern face of a Hyuga ninja, obviously not pleased to see her associating with the boy.

"My apologies for being late," he said quickly. "We must return home before your father becomes upset." As he began to walk Hinata back to her home, she turned back to the blonde boy. For a split moment, her white eyes locked with his blue eyes and silently apologized for having to leave so suddenly.

* * *

"Hey, it's that kid," the overweight boy commented.

"Oh, yeah," the tall kid added in a disgusted tone. "THAT kid."

"You three better let her go or else!" the blonde boy shouted.

"What are you gonna do if we don't?" the boy in the ball cap asked. "You gonna make us?" As the older boys began to laugh at the thought of someone who was much smaller than them forcing them to do anything, the blonde boy's scowl transformed into a confident smirk, much to the surprise of Hinata.

"Now you're talking!" he cheerfully said. "Which one of you wants to go first?" The bullies to look at the boy in shock as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"Are you kidding me?" the overweight bully asked. "There's no way a little nobody like you could beat the three of us." As the bullies began to surround the cocky boy, Hinata took the opportunity to rise to her feet. She wanted to shout to her rescuer to run away and not risk getting hurt for her, but she couldn't manage to get the words out.

"You better watch what you say to me," the small hero growled. "You're talking to the future Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it!" He quickly clasped his hands together and formed the ram hand seal. The bullies jumped back and began to look fearful. None of them knew any ninjutsu, but they were familiar with how dangerous anybody who knew how to use them could be. Hinata watched on, curious to see what the boy was capable of.

"CLONE..." Naruto shouted dramatically, causing the bullies to step back even further. "...JUTSU!" As he finished his shout, a large cloud of smoke burst out, causing Hinata to loose sight of the bullies and the jutsu's user. She watched the cloud fade away, revealing that the boys were staring at the ground between them. The Hyuga girl looked down and saw that the clone that was created looked extremely pale and was sprawled out in the grass. As the pathetic clone layed at their feet, the bullies began to laugh hysterically at Naruto, causing him to quickly change his smirk back into a scowl.

"You fell for it!" he quickly shouted as he charged for the boy in the ball cap, tackling him into the grass. "I'll show you! I'll show everybody! I'll be the greatest Hokage of all time!" The boy began to deliver blows to his opponent's head, getting a few good hits before the other boys came back to their senses and pulled him off of their friend. The ball capped boy got to his feet, rubbing the trail of blood that was coming down his lip.

"You're gonna pay for that!" he shouted as he gave Naruto a gut-wrenching punch. Hinata flinched as her savior fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. The tall and overweight boys joined in as their friend began to punch and kick the fallen boy, all while Hinata watched on in horror.

"Stop it!" she feebly cried. "Please! Let him go!" The older boys ignored her pleas and continued their attack on the defenseless boy. As the Hyuga girl silently berate herself for getting Naruto into the one sided fight he was currently losing, the sound of feet landing in the grass caused the boys to stop their assault and look up towards the school in fear. Hinata turned to see a ninja with his hair pulled back and a prominent scar across the bridge of his nose staring at the bullies angrily, recognizing him as one of the chunin teachers of the Academy.

"Just what is going on here?" he asked, crossing his arms across his flak jacket and raising an inquisitive eyebrow. His stern gaze kept the older boys frozen in their spots only for a few seconds more, until the tall one stood up quickly.

"RUN!" he shouted to his friends as he ran out of the woods. Taking a brief moment to register the suggestion, the other boys ran off in different directions, thinking that the ninja would either go after only one of them or decide to stay with the fallen Naruto. Fortunately for them, the ninja noticed the blonde boy lying in the grass and knelt by him. He realized that the boy had been knocked unconscious from the attack, causing the ninja to shake his head in a mixture of disappointment and concern.

"Naruto, what did you get yourself into this time?" he asked aloud. As the ninja further examined the boy's injuries, Hinata slowly rose to her feet and looked at the two nervously.

"Ummm...Excuse me..." Hinata said, grabbing the attention of the ninja.

"Hinata?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Is...he going to be ok?" Hinata responded, ignoring the chunin's question.

"He'll be alright, but I'm going to take him to the infirmary just to be safe," the ninja said as he scooped Naruto up from the grass. "Maybe you should hurry home before your father starts to worry." Hinata eyes widened at the mentioning of her father, his most recent words echoing in her mind.

_You are getting worse...I refuse to waste time on a weak heir._

As the Hyuga girl shook the memories out of her head, she resolved that it would be best for her to stay away from her home for as long as she could. She then looked towards the chunin, noticing that he had began to walk towards the ninja academy with the unconscious boy in his arms, his face completely at peace. To her, it looked like the boy had only passed out on the training field and his teacher decided to carry him back home, rather than just being beaten by three older boys in an attempt to protect her. In that brief moment, she realized that before she even thought of returning to face her father, there was something that she needed to do first.

"Excuse me! Sensei!" Hinata cried out. The chunin stopped in his tracks and turned to see the Hyuga girl sprinting towards him. He remained silent, not sure what a prominent member of one of the oldest clans in Konoha wanted with him.

"I-if it's okay with you..." Hinata began, only to stop herself as she didn't know the ninja's name.

"Please, call me Iruka-sensei," he said with a kind smile, almost as if he had read her mind.

"Iruka-sensei..." Hinata said as she bowed politely. "Please allow me to join you and make sure Naruto is taken care of." Iruka's eyes widened at the surprise he felt when someone as, for lack of a better term, sheltered girl like Hinata to want to stay by Naruto's side, figuring that her family would've told her to avoid him by now. However, seeing this as an opportunity for Naruto's personal growth, he quickly wiped the surprised look off of his face and regained his smile.

"That's very nice of you, Hinata," Iruka said. "Follow me to the infirmary, and maybe you can tell me how he got into that mess in the first place." Hinata looked up and nodded, all the while unable to look Iruka in the eyes. She then followed behind the chunin towards the Academy doors, her concerned gaze focused intently on the blonde haired boy.

* * *

**While the scene with Hinata being bullied and Naruto coming to her aid wasn't considered canon, it still gave everyone a good reason how Hinata would've started to notice Naruto as more than a prankster and someone she could admire. So, there you go. And to people familiar with my work...keep your eyes peeled for some Education on the term Blitz in a few days. Until then, hope you enjoyed the story.**

**Peace.**


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